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Thread: This or that?

  1. #1
    0_o Mastermind keezel's Avatar
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    This or that?

    I'm helping a friend pick out a laptop... She's into dell for some reason (apparently they have good customer service), and she's looking through the refurbished ones. The problem is that they all look like they suck. She's looking at Pentium M and Celeron processors clocked at like 1.7GHz. I'm inclined to tell her to go for this other, new laptop from Compaq/HP with an Athlon clocked at 2.0. Both have 512 RAM, 60 gig hard drive, and all other components are approximately the same. So my question is: how are Pentium M's and Celerons clocked in comparison to Athlons? (Battery life is not a variable we're concerned with btw). And how good is HP/Compaq's customer service?

    I've never dealt with laptops much, and never needed to know enough about hardware to answer these questions. I've only ever needed to know enough to play w/ the guts of my desktop. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

  2. #2
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hi keezel ,

    I personally don't like Dell laptops in the workplace.................I have had a lot of compatibility issues with data projectors etc. For home use this obviously does not matter.

    A "Pentium M" is a "mobile pentium"...............basically it works better in laptops running off battery power. A celeron is "a Pentium with its head kicked in" as in it is an inferior performer.

    The Athlon 2.0 probably has a true clock speed of around 1.6/1.7 Ghz. It will still out perform a Pentium 1.7Ghz. If it is a true clockspeed of 2.0Ghz, it is similar in performance to a P4 2.4Ghz.

    Hope that helps

  3. #3
    They call me the Hunted foxyloxley's Avatar
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    DELL SELL
    they move more boxes than the rest
    and it is probably this that has caught your friends eye ......

    1.7 GHz is pretty good for a laptop [heat is BAD]
    2.0 GHz would only be noticable to someone who was looking for the difference

    is she IT savvy ?
    does she require the laptop to be a screaming demon ?
    will 1.7 GHz do ?

    I like DELL, but have to admit that my experience with any customer support is limited to say the least
    I would suggest that in this day and age, that image is THE main deciding factor, and that if she likes / wants DELL, then that is the way to go

    MY laptop is an old Toshiba Satellite Pro that was being thrown away
    I didn't so much choose it, as save it
    for my next laptop, it will probably be a DELL
    purely based on my 'exposure' to their ads etc

    HTH
    so now I'm in my SIXTIES FFS
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  4. #4
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    Dell's customer support blows goats about as good as gateway's does. When I had problems with both I sat on the phone for hours and never fixed either of my problems through them. I ended up spending a little of my money to fix both computers. If you are looking for good support and don't feel like speaking with someone who barely speaks english to get your problem solved go with HP. Unless your freind speaks indian...

    Edit: I've had 2 hp products. An ipaq and a tablet. THe hdd fried on the laptop and the motherboard fried on the ipaq. Both were probably my fault but I called them and they sent me a box with postage paid to them. I sent it off and it only took 2-3 days to get them back repaired.
    When death sleeps it dreams of you...

  5. #5
    0_o Mastermind keezel's Avatar
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    Edit: I've had 2 hp products. An ipaq and a tablet. THe hdd fried on the laptop and the motherboard fried on the ipaq. Both were probably my fault but I called them and they sent me a box with postage paid to them. I sent it off and it only took 2-3 days to get them back repaired.
    Thank you so much, that is probably the most relevant thing to her. If something goes wrong, she's concerned about how much hassel she will go through to get it fixed.

    is she IT savvy ?
    does she require the laptop to be a screaming demon ?
    will 1.7 GHz do ?
    In all honesty, yea 1.7 would do fine for her...but I think it's slow, and it'd bother me to have told her that something that is IMO sucky is good. I hate that the dell computers pushing celerons and pent M's are more expensive b/c of the name of the gear on the inside. She went w/ an HP/Compaq machine w/ the 2.0 Athlon....I think I'm happy with it. I'm concerned that it might heat up a lot, or maybe not last as long (she splurged to get a ginormous battery b/c I told her it could eat power faster, even tho she doesn't think she'll ever really need to use the battery...it'd be nice to have), but other than that I think she found a good deal.

    It scares me a lot for people I care about to depend on me for a $1k investment. I mean...what if I pick one she doesn't like? I'd feel pretty crappy. So yea, thanks for your input everyone. I greatly appreciate all of it.

    PS
    A celeron is "a Pentium with its head kicked in"
    lol, that's amazing. Ty for the chuckle.

  6. #6
    AFLAAACKKK!!
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    In all honesty I don't like dell... I think people are getting confused about their customer support... It's not that they're good... the only thing about their customer support that's any different then anyone else's is the fact that they are willing to come out to your home to fix whatever needs fixing...

    You made a good choice choosing the athlon over the celeron...

    But to tell you the truth I would have skipped both dell and HP and gotten a toshiba laptop... Toshiba makes the best laptops hands down... IMO anyway...
    I am the uber duck!!1
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  7. #7
    Frustrated Mad Scientist
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    Dell customer support? muert0 took the words out of my mouth, they blow goats/suck donkeys etc.

    If you phone support you are likely to get downtown Mumbai and unless you speak the Queens English like a newsreader you'll spend a lot of time repeating yourself. I've got an accent like a farmer chewing rubble so I've had probs in the past.

    Would I buy a Dell laptop? Yes. But not straight off the website. Look for they deals they publish in the press, those tend to be much better than you get online. Dells machines tend to be a bit sparce and all require upgrades which Dell charges a massive premium for.

    I've used laptops from Dell, HP, Toshiba, Compaq, Acer and Sony. The HPs were all budget machines and although a bit big, hot and heavy they were reliable. Compaq is no more. I agree with Duck that the Toshibas were nicely made machines. A friend of mine has an Acer Ferrari which he loves and I've used the budget machines which were dull but pleasently solid.
    I really don't like Sony Viaos [sic?] just always thought they were expensive and nasty.

    Personally I'd have no hesitation in going for a Dell if the deal was good, but I'd also look at Acers for being good value for money.

    If you don't care about battery life look at the desktop replacement machines. Doesn't sound like she's planning on carrying it round much so size and weight should be less of an issue.

    Think about the screen. If it's going to be her main machine it's probably worth spending extra to get a good screen. I wouldn't look for anything smaller than a 15.4 widescreen. Dell had some very good deals over the holidays for their 17" widescreen laptops.

    One advantage I've found with Dells it that they have hatches for the harddrive not just the memory. I've been able to changed dead drives in Dells quite easily where in some other machines we've had to send them off just because we couldn't open the case without causing damage.

  8. #8
    THE Bastard Sys***** dinowuff's Avatar
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    Wow. I'm suprised to hear the bad things about Dell Support. All the desktops/laptops here are Dell's. Support is no issue and always english (Usually Texas) May be due to the fact I have a Corprate account????

    I have to say that the only contact I had with HP was a few months ago.

    Bad memory slot on a laptop. Call support and tell them how i determined the slot was bad. They sent me a box (Pre paid shipping) 3 - 4 days later, laptop was returned ALL BETTER.

    And the person I spoke to was "not asking as if he was from a script reading"
    09:F9:11:02:9D:74:E3:5B8:41:56:C5:63:56:88:C0

  9. #9
    Frustrated Mad Scientist
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    Corporate accounts do make a huge difference.

    On a job interview I asked why they used Dell and I commented about the problems I'd had with them before. The reply was that if you spend over £100k a year with Dell they tend to listen when you have a problem.

    Most support calls with Dell are ok really. Just when it goes wrong they appear to not give a toss.
    You now how it is, get good service tell 5 people, get bad service tell 50.

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